And so we meet again, one last time. Starting where we left off, this time from Penny's perspective.

This is the beginning of the end, reader...

5. Don't Go

"I promise."

Without any form of warning, Ruby was weeping in her arms. Penny had no idea what had just happened, but the sound pierced though her heart like a blade. She couldn't let this be, her friend would not be sad while she could help it. Her friend. Was she her friend? Did friends go on a self-destructive rampage to restore the other back to life, or fall asleep in each other's arms every night? There were so many questions inside her at the moment, but with effort she managed to silence them. It did not matter, nothing mattered, not when the scythe-wielding huntress was in tears right before her. It had to stop, she wouldn't allow such gloom anymore. So she did the only thing that came to mind.

She kissed Ruby.

The swarm of sensations was indescribable, every electrical connection in her body suddenly so strongly noticeable. She cursed her creator in her head for not having given her taste buds, left only to imagine what the other girl's lips tasted like. Probably cookies, from the scent she recognized, but it wasn't important. Because this sense of bliss was overwhelming, and she didn't want to ever let go. Sadly, she wasn't given the choice.

The speedster broke off the contact, shuffling to her feet in a hurry. When the android looked up, she saw those beautiful silver eyes stare back at her, tainted with unbelieving panic. The girl's mouth opened, but no words came out, never ceasing to cry.

"Ruby, I'm…" But she had already disappeared, leaving only a trail of scattered red petals in her stead. "…sorry."

Sorry didn't even began to describe it. Penny wanted to scream, but her throat was clenched. She wanted to cry, but her metallic body did not allow her to. Ruby, her friend, her only and best friend, the one person she cared about in this lonely world, was hurt. And it was all because of her. She could not bear the pain that was ripping through her whole, aching in places she didn't know she had, such agony that she thought she would shut down. How could she have been so stupid, thinking the red-hooded fighter would return her feelings?

Feelings. Maybe they were just a malfunction in her system. She wasn't even sure how she felt about Ruby. She only knew she did not want to be apart from her. And now she had ruined that beyond recovery. There was no penance for her mistakes. She did not know what to do.

Yang was sitting on the lower bunk bed, besides her partner who was concentrated in her most recent book. Across from them lied Weiss, who had a few loose notes in front of her, but made no attempt to pretend she was still studying, repeatedly glancing expectantly at the door. She was clearly worried about the current location of their wayward leader. Yang was too, but she figured her sister was busy having a long-overdue meeting with her weaponized-friend, on the topics of her own conversation with the same girl earlier that day.

Their curiosities were satiated when, in a flash, Ruby emerged from the entranced she had just barged into, near toppling to the floor. Regaining her footing, she looked around, noticing her teammates, and froze for a second, before turning back to the door in an attempt to leave. Her motion was interrupted by a cold hand that grabbed her arm, and three faces stared back at her, by now all aware of her intensely reddened eyes.

"Ruby, what the hell happened to you?" Weiss spoke up, to Yang's great satisfaction. She was too busy burying her anger to be able to engage the problem in front of them.

The speedster resumed her weep, losing all strength in her knees. The heiress practically leaped forward, grabbing her before she hit the ground.

"…Penny…" The redhead managed to let out between sobs, to which her sister could only clench her fists in fury. This was not right, she had given the robot clear instructions. Detailed plans of how she would rip every single part of that despicable metallic body started flying through her head. Benefit of doubt was out the window, the atlesian had to go.

"…she… she kissed me." The room fell silent, shock overcoming everyone inside. The brawler's eyes were no longer lilac, and fire had already started covering her body. She could only see red, revenge clouding her mind.

Yet suddenly a hand reached for hers and tugged at it, kind but strong. All rage dissipated and she felt a strange calm, as if nothing had happened. She threw a grateful smile at Blake, not letting go of her hand, who nodded but gestured her to pay attention to what was going on in the opposite side of the room.

The other two girls, oblivious to Yang's slight breakdown, were completely still, apart from the scythe-wielder's sniffles. The Ice Queen had an expression of intense dread, still holding her partner steady. Swallowing hard, Weiss snapped out of her daze.

"So? What is the problem? I thought you'd be happy about this." Her voice was firm, and her look unyielding. Ruby shut her eyes and shook her head rapidly.

"I don't… I don't know!"

"What is there not to know? You like her, do you not? And don't even try to deny it, we've all seem that dumb wide grin you have whenever you come back from your little 'dates'!"

The team leader glanced over, a glint of silver asking their opinion on the matter. Blake nodded, quietly suppressing a laugh. Yang did not interject, allowing the conversation to continue.

"See? So, I repeat. What is the problem?"

"I'm… scared."

The heiress sighed. "Of course you are! But that is no reason to simply run away! Just because you're fast doesn't mean you can flee from everything. I bet you left her all alone there, didn't you?"

The youngster's eyes were wide in disbelief, clearly not having even considered that. She wiped the tears off her face, looking somewhat better.

"You are going to take a shower, get a hold of yourself, and then go after that woman." The ivory-haired demanded, almost reprimanding her friend. Ruby nodded feebly, and let herself be pushed into the bathroom.

As the door closed, Yang stood up and grabbed Weiss' arm, giving it a strong squeeze and directing a knowing smile at her. "Thank you."

The heiress only responded with a sad smile, pain cracking through her ice mask.

The bath made her feel much better, restoring strength to her weakened muscles and removing any traces of tears from her face. Weiss was right, she had to stop running away. In her fear of loss, she hadn't even realized that now she was the one leaving.

Despite her happy demeanor, she avoided anyone getting too close, save a few exceptions like her teammates. That way they couldn't hurt her. But it was high time she faced her own ghosts, without letting others pay the price of her struggle.

She stepped outside and started her search for the robotic girl, but she was nowhere to be found. It had already been a long night, so she eventually was forced to give up and return to the dorm. No one said a word, even though she knew they were awake despite the darkness inside the room. Her mission had to wait until the morning, which seemed to take forever to come.

After dawn, Ruby ran the entire length of the school, with growing concern at the absence of the one she sought. As she made a second round, her sniper-trained sight spotted a familiar figure near the entrance to the dorms. The scythe wielder stopped at a safe distance, observing the scene before her.

Penny was pacing back and forth rapidly, mumbling to herself, inner conflict stamped on her face. With some effort, the red-hooded girl managed to catch some of it.

"I have to… but she… no, I can't… it's my fault…" That last part made Ruby decide not to wait anymore, figuring out that this conflict had to be solved sooner rather than later, for both their sakes. She stepped onwards and touched the android's arm, who yelped loudly at the contact, not having noticed her approach.

"Penny, I've been looking all over for you! Where were you?"

The atlesian robot opened and closed her mouth, not saying a word. It was then that youngster noticed the large backpack besides them.

"Are you… are you going somewhere?"

"I'm not sure…"

"But you promised! You promised you wouldn't leave!" At this point the youngster was practically begging, her tone loud and desperate. It couldn't end like this, not after all they'd been through.

"Why do you want even want me to stay, Ruby?" The ginger asked with guilt in her eyes. "After I… after what I did."

The student under the red-hood could not understand was she heard. It made no sense, why was she acting like this?

"I hurt you, friend. I just don't want to be a reason for you to be in pain." She continued, almost expressionless, and with a swift movement picked up her backpack.

NO! She couldn't allow her to leave. She couldn't let the android walk out of her life.

"Penny please don't go! I… I LOVE YOU!" The panicked scream that came out of her throat surprised her, words she had not thought to pronounce. There was a faint sting in her heart, from having to say out loud something she had not admitted even to herself. She felt vulnerable, naked and bare for the world to see, her feelings laid clearly on the table.

The atlesian robot, turned on her heel and stared back, mouth agape and eyes wide in bewilderment. She took some time to process what she'd just heard, every second weighing further on Ruby's chest.

She faced the ground, unable to handle the ginger's gaze anymore. Then she sensed the figure in front of her taking a step forward. Ruby looked up, in time to see her arm being grabbed and her whole body pinned against the wall. Only then did Penny kiss her. And this time, Ruby kissed back.

"Well, they are totally making out right now. Like, intense stuff." Yang said as she leaned off of the window and placed her binoculars down. Could you be a little less nosey? Blake thought to herself.

"Finally. Now can you stop being an ass about it?"

The blonde scratched her chin, considering her options, and then gave her a mischievous grin.

"Not. A. Chance." The faunus rolled her eyes at her partner. "Besides, what are you talking about? My ass is amazing!"

The raven-haired huntress hid her face beneath her book, pretending not to have heard that. She soon realized what a lapse of judgment that was.

"Oh come on, like I haven't seen you staring at it."

She buried herself further behind the pages. Goddamnit, Yang.

It's over. I gotta say, it was a blast writing this. Playing with darker themes for these characters, and working with the scars of their pasts, was a lot of fun.

Thanks to everyone who favorited, followed and reviewed, for keeping me confident that I was doing something right. Also thanks to Popper100 on Reddit for the useful input. And thank you Microsoft Word's synonym function for helping with my lack of English vocabulary.

I hope you enjoyed this first attempt at fanfiction. Hopefully it wasn't too bad. Baby steps.

And who knows, maybe one day I'll write more. Time will tell ;)